diff --git a/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/Worker.pm b/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/Worker.pm
index ef750b083f7000c0a60dfaaada43a58e35fa020a..535c3baea8f36933cba283f12d215075555f3f8d 100644
--- a/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/Worker.pm
+++ b/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/Worker.pm
@@ -537,7 +537,7 @@ sub run {
             $self->adaptor->db->get_AnalysisStatsAdaptor->update_status( $self->current_role->analysis_id, 'ALL_CLAIMED' );
         }
 
-        if( $cod =~ /^(NO_WORK|HIVE_OVERLOAD)$/ and $self->can_respecialize and (!$specialization_arghash>{'-analyses_pattern'} or $specialization_arghash->{'-analyses_pattern'}!~/^\w+$/) ) {
+        if( $cod =~ /^(NO_WORK|HIVE_OVERLOAD)$/ and $self->can_respecialize and (!$specialization_arghash->{'-analyses_pattern'} or $specialization_arghash->{'-analyses_pattern'}!~/^\w+$/) ) {
             my $old_role = $self->current_role;
             $self->adaptor->db->get_RoleAdaptor->finalize_role( $old_role, 1 );
             $self->current_role( undef );